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Quality of rabbit food (or lack thereof)...

I've always been a bit soppy about giving plain pellets as it looks so boring (I know, I know!) So I mix 50/50 A&P pellets with A&P Herb & Fibre Mix. I love the smell of the herbs & flowers in the mix and I've never had any of them feeding selectively as a result. Protein's not too high and I always prefer a high fibre level.

Sue
 
If you feeding mostly hay anyway then it's not going to make much difference. There is probably more/the same protein in a bowl of pellets than a tablespoon of mix. The important thing is they get lots of fibre.

Tam
 
If you feeding mostly hay anyway then it's not going to make much difference. There is probably more/the same protein in a bowl of pellets than a tablespoon of mix. The important thing is they get lots of fibre.


Tam
 
i have to agree with people who use A&P as it has a high fibre content and none of mine have had sticky bottoms on it and they love it also
so i would recomend it to anyone :D
 
I agree its the hay that is the most important thing. I have a friend that only feeds her rabbit burgess super excell and a few veg including baby corn, which I've told her is hard to digest.
I told her she should have lots of hay but she says the rabbit doesn't like it. I think just because she doesn't dive on it she thinks she doesn't like it :(
I've even given her a bag of dried grass for her to try and even though the rabbit ate it she hasn't bought her anymore :( The rabbit has already had her front teeth removed.
 
Sue

Can you get the A+P Herb + Fibre mix easily? I already use A+P pellets but Pip has a mixture of pellets + Supa Rabbit mix and she is starting to go off the mix so was thinking of trying something different! I'm a big fan of A+P so would like to try their mix! Oh and how much is it?

Nicola
 
Thanks bluebunny, is that a big 15kg sack? As it's only for one bun I prob wouldn't use it by it's sell by date!
 
nicolar said:
Thanks bluebunny, is that a big 15kg sack? As it's only for one bun I prob wouldn't use it by it's sell by date!
Yes could be 20kg is that the size the pellets come in?
 
Yep the pellets come in a 20kg sack. I just saw on a website a sack of the mix which was 15kg, so I presumed the one u saw may be the same! :D
 
All bunnies (and believe me there have been hundreds) that come into our rescue are put onto A & P pellets, they usually take to them very quickly and do really well on them. Only 2 of our resident bunnies are on SS as they dont like anything else. I work in a pet shop and we sell more excel, SS and A&P than any other rabbit foods. 99% of the time if I get a bunny in with dental problems it is one that has been fed on mix all their life.

It is important to check the ingredients of any mix or pellets that you buy. Many mixes are packed full of artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives. The natural pet food company mix and chudleys rabbit royale are both quite high in fibre but most other mixes do not rate highly in my opinion. I would never feed any of the guinea pigs, rabbits or small animals here anything with artificial colourings. If I get any guinea pigs come into the rescue with tumours (and there have been several) 99% or the time they have been fed on something like gerty guinea pig, packed full of artificial colours :evil:

I firmly believe in giving the animals a diet as natural as possible.

Cheryl
 
I've just been to tesco and had a look at their rabbit food. The Tesco brand is 14% protein, 14% Fibre and the value one is 14% protein 8.5% Fibre :( Think the ash and oil was 4% on both.
My main worry is that is says to supplement the diet with fruit OR veg 3 times a week. Doesn't even mention hay :(
It also says on the front of the Tesco brand something like it is formulated to be the perfect bablance of nutrients for your rabbit, so anyone buying it will think its really healthy for their rabbit.
 
Def agree with you Cheryl, my buns do very well on a complete food. The only one I have to give a mix to is Pippa as she won't eat the pellets and I need to keep weight on her, so she gets to eat what she wants to! The mix makes up a very small part of her diet though, hay mainly so I'm not too worried by the fact she eats mix. But for buns who aren't great hay eaters, foods like A+P are brill.

Nicola
 
A&P Herb & Fibre is a bit expensive at over £10 for 15kg (pellets are around £6 for 20kg). If you go to the Allen & Page website they give you a list of local feed merchants. I find my supplier always gets it in fresh for me and it has about a 3 month life on it - still good value even if you don't use it all.

Sue
 
Yeah that isn't bad at all. I may ask my local supplier to order some in for me. Let's hope she likes it!!! Still cheaper than most other foods though.

Nicola
 
Fidget can (and does) eat anything and everything with no ill effects. She's on Excel, which she seems to likg. My sister's 4 buns are all on Wagg Bunny Brunch and not enough hay (I don't know how many times I have to tell her), and they're all perfectly healthy without any problems. I'm sure many rabbits thrive on mix and a good diet of hay, and I know that no-one here is an under-educated rabbit owner. It worries me that there are people who think that a mix is enough, without hay...in which case, it would surely be better for a rabbit if most mixes had a higher fibre content. I tend to agree that we all do worry too much about our buns. I sometimes think that giving them an overly fussy diet is more likely to make them react badly to any unplanned dietary changes or if they eat something they shouldn't (dunno if there's any truth in that). All that said, I'd still rather feed them something with a higher fibre than protein content. Each rabbit is an individual. Like people...some people can eat nothing but healt food and be plagued with problems, and others can eat whatever they like and live to be 105 :lol: I just don't understand why they don't make the foods higher in fibre.
 
The Rabs used to have Burgess Excell but I've started buying the pellets from Morrisons (I'll check the fibre content).

Over a week they have:

pellets
carrot
broccoli
apple
Unlimited hay
oats in warm water
dried fruit

and I've just bought P at H Rabbit museli to give the a couple of time a week as an alternative to pellets (2 of them don't seem very keen though so I might not buy anymore)

They seem fine on that diet, nice healthy poos.

Rabswood, Lavender, Oxo and Pippin.
 
My friend gives her rabbit warm apple? Can you do this? Warm apple? never tried it didn't know rabbits liked warm apple lol
 
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